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From: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Gender of personified Death
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References: <1995May17.121518.14224@rzu-news.unizh.ch> <3pf079$3aq@sun.sirius.com> <stephen-1905951331350001@acidmac.cc.waikato.ac.nz>
Date: Sat, 20 May 1995 00:18:20 GMT
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In article <stephen-1905951331350001@acidmac.cc.waikato.ac.nz>,
Stephen Judd <stephen@waikato.ac.nz> wrote:
>
>> In <1995May17.121518.14224@rzu-news.unizh.ch> groos@ifspm.unizh.ch
>(Malgorzata Roos) writes:
>> >Can fellow netters please tell me how other languages treat this
>> >subject?
>> 
>> Americans represent Death as "the Grim Reaper" an invisible person
>> wearing (outlined by) a robe with a hood, and carrying a scythe. 
>> Since Death is invisible, it's not clear what the sex is; but I
>> always thought it was a he.
>> 
>
>That's the traditional mediaeval representation - see Totentanz/Danse
>macabre pictures of the time. I wonder if it shares anything

Actually, Death isn't always invisible:  often, in both modern and
mediaeval iconography, a skeleton is clearly visible under the cloak.
Of course, except to an anatomist, a skeleton isn't clearly male or
female either.

In Breton lore, personified death (Ankou) is often the spirit of the
last person to die from the locality in the previous year; theoretical-
ly, then, it would be male as often as female.  Once again, since
Ankou appears as a skeleton (with a special twist:  a 360o-rotating 
head), this is moot as far as representation goes.  I don't remember 
the grammatical gender of "ankou"; that of its Welsh cognate (angau)
is masculine. 

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
